Tom Arnott, 43, says he has been living on minimum wage since he got a job as a cook at a local fast-food restaurant last year.

Earning less than $8 an hour for about 30 hours a week, nearly all of his paycheck goes to rent, utilities, food and his cellphone bill, he said. For the most part, that means many meals with ramen noodles. Going out to a movie or having a drink at a bar is usually out of the question.

"The pay is absolutely terrible," he said, as he waited in the Belden Village Transit Center for a Stark Area Regional Transit Authority bus. "I have no discretionary income whatsoever. I get my paycheck and it goes to bills."

But he's wary about a proposal backed by Democrats in Congress that would effectively raise Ohio's minimum wage from $7.95 an hour to $10.10 an hour within two years.

Arnott fears that if the minimum wage goes up, businesses will raise prices to compensate for the increased costs of their workers. And the purchasing power of his new wage won't be any higher.

"I think it'll just make things worse," he said. "Ten years ago, if you had an $8 an hour job, you thought that's not too bad, but now that's garbage."

PUSH FOR MORE

President Barack Obama, congressional Democrats and labor groups are pushing for an increase in the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour over two years, the New York Times reported late last month. After that, the rate would go up each year with the consumer price index, similar to how an Ohio constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2006 requires a state minimum wage increase each year if the cost of living rises.

The current Ohio minimum wage is $7.95 an hour following a 10-cent increase on Jan. 1. Democrats hope their efforts will turn out more of their supporters in this year's congressional elections.

But so far, there's no indication yet that the Ohio Democratic Party and Ohio unions will push for a higher state minimum wage in statewide races in 2014.

Locally, Canton Councilman John Mariol, D-7, is seeking an opinion from Canton Law Director Joe Martuccio over whether an Ohio city like Canton can legally set its own higher minimum wage for all employers within its boundaries.

Voters in the city of SeaTac, Wash. south of Seattle garnered national headlines in November when they approved an increase in its minimum wage to $15 an hour, well above Washington state's minimum of $9.32. San Francisco has a minimum wage of $10.74 an hour, well above California's minimum, which is scheduled to rise to $10 from $8 by 2016.

Mariol wants Canton city council at the very least to require any company doing business with the city or getting tax abatements pay a higher minimum wage. He has not yet proposed a specific new minimum wage, but he thinks something around $10 per hour would be not too overly burdensome for businesses.

Page 2 of 4 - "You can't pay rent and feed your family on $7.95," said Mariol, who believes higher pay for low-paid workers would stimulate the local economy as these workers would have more money to spend. "You would see, I think, an economic impact from having a higher minimum wage."

The councilman said companies like Costco that pay significantly more than minimum wage reap the benefits of more efficiency, less turnover of employees and thus lower training costs. He said some big employers, who pay minimum wage actually encourage their employees to apply for food stamps and Medicaid, resulting in taxpayers subsidizing their practice of paying low wages. He said these employers are very profitable and can afford to pay more.

Canton Council President Allen Schulman, a Democrat, supports an increase in the minimum wage whether it's done by Congress or council.

He said someone earning Ohio's minimum wage now on a full-time basis earns roughly $16,000 a year.

"You cannot live on $16,000 in the United States in 2014. That's not to say you can live on $10. You probably can't, but nevertheless it's better than $7," Schulman said. A wage of "$7.95 in my judgment is a pathetic wage. It's a non-living wage."

He said the bulk of minimum wage earners aren't students but head of households with children, and economic studies show that arguments that a higher minimum wage will hurt businesses and hiring have no basis.

NON-LIVING WAGE?

Arnott, the fast food cook, agrees that living on $7.95 wouldn't be possible for him if he hadn't found very inexpensive housing. And he says the recent 10-cent an-hour increase is "not even noticeable."

"I don't really see how anyone can survive on it. I don't see it as a living wage at all," he said.

Arnott said he worked as a contractor for a sewer and drain service for $20 an hour before the business went under three years ago. He said he exhausted his unemployment benefits after 18 months. He had to scrap his car after it broke down, and he couldn't afford to replace it. What would be a 15-minute ride can take an hour to get to work on three buses and two hours to get home.

"It's incredibly depressing because you know you're just stuck," he said.

But Arnott believes raising the minimum wage would backfire unless there was a way to prevent businesses from raising prices.

"The price of everything just goes up more," he said. "I make less money effectively. It doesn't help."

Also waiting for the bus was Buddy Carnes, 25, of Canton. He said he earns about $9.23 an hour as a dishwasher at a Belden Village restaurant. He said he started the job about three weeks ago after about three years of being unemployed and living with his grandfather. He favors the proposal that would raise his pay to more than $10 an hour.

Page 3 of 4 - "I don't know why anyone would be against that," Carnes said. "That's just a few dollars more than what we normally make. We're trying to survive out here."

UNAFFORDABLE?

Desirae Volkert, co-owner of Volkert's Party Center convenience store on Tuscarawas Street W in Canton, said she believes there should be a minimum wage. But if the minimum wage goes over $10, she said, she would be unable to afford the increase.

While she so far has been able to keep up with the annual state-mandated minimum wage increases, a new $10.10 rate would mean she would have to lay off most of her eight employees, who earn minimum wage, at Volkert's and Hills and Dales Beverage Drive-Thru, she said. Volkert said state law doesn't allow her to raise the prices of cigarettes and beer or lottery tickets, and customers would balk if she increased the price of snack food and sodas.

"It gets rid of the small business people because you wouldn't be able to afford to have a small business," she said.

Mariol said he would look at exempting small businesses like Volkert's from a higher minimum wage, and he stressed that he would get businesses' feedback before advancing legislation.

Sean Chichelli, director of labor and human resources policy for the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, said if each Ohio city can impose its own minimum wage, it would become increasingly difficult for a business to comply with different minimum wages in cities.

He argued that a higher minimum wage also doesn't address that many workers don't have the skills that employers are looking for. Chichelli said if the minimum wage jumps higher than $10, businesses will be even more selective about whom they hire, resulting in fewer openings and fewer hours.

"This isn't a panacea like people want to be," he said, adding that voters already approved a higher minimum wage in 2006 but labor advocates will never be satisfied. "Their argument is it's not enough .. that's an argument that can never end."

Reach Robert at 330-580-8327

On Twitter: @rwangREP

How Ohio compares on minimum wage

Ohio is one of 21 states whose basic minimum wage is higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Ohio's minimum wage is $7.95 an hour for employers that gross more than $292,000 a year. A dozen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages greater than Ohio's.

The states and their hourly minimum wage rates that exceed $7.25 an hour are: